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How to Measure Temps

Several technologies -- including contact sensors, non-contact sensors and thermal imaging -- measure temperatures. However, the most common tool is a standard bulb thermometer. Bulb thermometers house a special liquid -- usually mercury -- that expands when heated and retracts when cooled. What makes this liquid special is its resistance to boiling or freezing when exposed to extreme temperatures. By observing the liquid's amount of expansion or retraction, you can determine the temperature.

Bulb thermometer

Instructions

- 1
  Purchase a thermometer with a range suitable to measure whatever temperature you desire. A typical oral medical thermometer offers a range from 90 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. If measuring the temperature of water extremes, you would need a range below 32 and above 212 degrees Fahrenheit. For outside temperature, you'll need an outdoors thermometer.
- 2
  Place the thermometer in the substrate to be measured. This might be under your tongue for an oral medical thermometer, in a pot of water when measuring cooking temperature, or in a shady spot to measure outdoor temperature.
- 3
  Leave the thermometer in place for a full minute or longer.
- 4
  Extract the thermometer and immediately view the mercury level. The figure at the top of the mercury line is the temperature.

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K-12 Basics